Home Moving In The UK ‘At Highest Rate In 10 Years’

This is according to fresh data from Lloyds Bank published in The Daily Telegraph, which has revealed that the number of homeowners getting a mortgage for a new home rose by two per cent to some 370,300 in 2017, which is up from the 361,300 new mortgages in 2016.

This positive result for the property market has been stimulated by on-going low mortgage rates and an increasing demand for houses, indeed the estimated total number of mortgages agreed in 2017 was the highest it’s been since 2007 at 729,300 – up 4.1 per cent from the 700,800 agreed in 2016.

First-time buyer mortgages were also on the rise, reaching a 10-year peak in 2017, missing 2007’s high by just 900, according to the Lloyds report, further stimulating upward movement in the property market.

Nevertheless, demand for homes is still 43 per cent below the pre-financial crisis peak of 653,700 in 2007.

Lloyd’s Bank’s Andrew Mason was quoted by the newspaper as saying: “House price increases will have boosted equity levels for many home owners, enabling movement along the housing ladder. For the first time, homemovers are choosing to pay an average deposit of over £100,000, with Londoners putting down nearly double this.”

However, London was the only part of the UK to experience a decline in the number of mortgages agreed by home movers, with a six per cent slide year-on-year.